The present invention relates generally to a zoom lens and an electronic imaging system using the same, and more particularly to an electronic imaging system such as a video camera or a digital camera, the depth dimension of which is diminished by providing some contrivances to an optical system portion such as a zoom lens.
In recent years, digital cameras (electronic cameras) have received attention as the coming generation of cameras, an alternative to silver-halide 35 mm-film (usually called Leica format) cameras. Currently available digital cameras are broken down into some categories in a wide range from the high-end type for commercial use to the portable low-end type.
In view of the category of the portable low-end type in particular, the primary object of the present invention is to provide the technology for implementing video or digital cameras whose depth dimension is reduced while high image quality is ensured, and which are easy to handle. The gravest bottleneck in diminishing the depth dimension of cameras is the thickness of an optical system, especially a zoom lens system from the surface located nearest to its object side to an image pickup plane.
Recent technologies for slimming down cameras rely primarily on a collapsible lens mount that allows the optical system to be taken out of a camera body for phototaking and received therein for carrying. Typical examples of an optical system that may effectively be slimmed down while relying on the collapsible lens mount are disclosed in JP-A's 11-194274, 11-287953 and 2000-9997. Each publication discloses an optical system comprising, in order from its object side, a first lens group having negative refracting power and a second lens group having positive refracting power, wherein both lens groups move during zooming.
The application of collapsible lens mounts to such optical systems is not preferable in view of operability because much time is taken to put them from the lens mounts to the ready state. The location of a movable lens group nearest to the object side of the optical system is also not preferable for water-proofing and dust-proofing purposes.